Alonso is leading the way with 34p ahead of Mark Webber as we enter the courtain raiser for the second and crucial half of this years world championship. But with the Mclarens looking strong and Lotus yet to score that maiden victory, who will put on a show in Budapest?

I can find reasons to think Mclaren will win.
I can find reasons to think Ferrari will win.
I can find reasons to think Red Bull will win.
I can find reasons to think Lotus will win.
And I can even think of reasons that a Mercedes might win.

To jump in before we get the usual comments of "It's such a boring track".

IMHO The layout of the Hungaroring is very fun to drive, fast, twisty, unforgiving. I think it should be a fun race, the Pirellis even made Valencia interesting for once i'm sure the same can apply here.

To jump in before we get the usual comments of "It's such a boring track".

IMHO The layout of the Hungaroring is very fun to drive, fast, twisty, unforgiving. I think it should be a fun race, the Pirellis even made Valencia interesting for once i'm sure the same can apply here.

The second sector is very cool to drive, like the last sector at Valencia.

To jump in before we get the usual comments of "It's such a boring track".

IMHO The layout of the Hungaroring is very fun to drive, fast, twisty, unforgiving. I think it should be a fun race, the Pirellis even made Valencia interesting for once i'm sure the same can apply here.

It's already a classic track. Interestingly it's 3rd after Monaco and Monza on the list of the periods of continually hosting grands prix. It beats Silverstone by one as the 1986 British GP was at Brands Hatch.

Funnily its location is also Mo' as with Monaco and Monza; the track is in the area of the small town of Mogyoród and that word would translate to 'your (pea)nut'.

Yes, if everything goes right, he's definitely in that mental 'zone' - he just seems to be commanding that Ferrari like it's his slave...BUT I can't help but feel an unexpected bad race is around the corner for him...and boy is Horner trying to curse him at every race for it! 'Fernando is going to have a bad race...' 'Fernando will have a DNF...'

Everyone has been saying every race 'this could be the one for Lotus' and it never is...however, I think the track might suit them, and I certainly wouldn't rule them out.

I can see Lewis and Seb regrouping, and one of them getting the win...Mclaren have always been good at Hungary.

*Some weeks before it was constantly nearing 40°C for weeks. It was awfully suffering.

I know, I was there! Weird thing was, before I went on holiday I'd read a forecast predicting high 20s max temperatures, so I kept telling myself "it's not that hot, get a hold of yourself, stop complaining" and so on. When I discovered I'd been walking miles each day in 35-40 degree heat I felt pretty tough. Beautiful city. And I saw the local GP3 driver Tamás Pál Kiss on a couple of billboards, which speaks for the enthusiasm for Grand Prix racing in Hungary.

(I don't know about it being a "classic" track (there are very few on the current F1 calendar, IMHO) but it's got a lot of history and I always enjoy the races. Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso, Damon Hill and Mick Doohan all won their first Grands Prix there, which is pretty cool. Romain Grosjean might make a good addition to that list. )

Well the reason I say Mercedes is cuz Rosberg had a car to fight for the win in Monaco and cars that go well there historically go well at Hungary, too.

Very often Monaco and Hungaroring performances go hand in hand, but far from always. I should have more recent examples, but McLaren in 01 and 02; fast in Monaco, slow in Hungary both years. Sauber is on a roll, Merc is a bit off.

To jump in before we get the usual comments of "It's such a boring track".

IMHO The layout of the Hungaroring is very fun to drive, fast, twisty, unforgiving. I think it should be a fun race, the Pirellis even made Valencia interesting for once i'm sure the same can apply here.

it is a slowish track but we had so many great gps there...1986 piquet overtaking senna on the outside....1988. mansell winning from 12th overtaking senna for the win...1990. great fights and controversial collisons senna vs nannini and berger vs mansell....1997. hill almost winnig for arrows...1998. schumacher with one extra stop vs mclarens...2003. alonsos first win...2006. fantastic alonso on the wet track and buttons first win...2008. massas fantastic start and cruel dnf few laps from the end...kovalainens first win...

well, Hungaroring is a slow track, usual it goes in high temperatures as 35C+ is a normal temperature for end july so the track may be at 45-50C - that means the tyre consumption will be at high and degradation big time. A lot of teams will be in trouble from the tyre management - my bets will go for the cars / drivers that are most forgiving with the rubber - Lotus and Sauber may score the first wins this season.
I see Alonso doing another great damage control race and beeing happy to score a top 5, RedBulls both if they got unmapped will strugle and McLarens in good shape for top 5 positions as well.
But, if i were to gamble, i'll put some bucks on Kimi, Grojean and Perez.

Highly doubt that. They haven't needed to win yet in order to remain competitive in both championships thus far. It's unlikely they'll win the titles without a race victory, but they are not desperately in need of it due to the consistency of the car at all circuits. They've also had two performing drivers all year, unlike Ferrari and McLaren.

... a dusty, slippery surface that progressively rubbers in over the course of the weekend. This puts grip at a premium, which is one of the reasons why Pirelli has brought the P Zero Yellow soft and P Zero Red supersoft tires to the Hungaroring. The 16 corners are tight and narrow, similar to Monte Carlo, with a low average speed. This makes the circuit ideally suited to the softer tires in Pirelli’s P Zero range, although this is the first time all season that the supersoft will face competition in very warm weather.

While it rained in Budapest over the weekend, temperatures for the race are expected to be in the region of 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning that the drivers will have to think about conserving their tires

This link predicts very high temperatures with the chance of thundery showers, suggesting that race day could be most affected. If it rains, it is hard to look past the Ferraris as that just seems to be perfect in the wet. If it's dry, Lotus must be a good bet, with high temperatures and lots of aero demand. McLaren may also get to show their potential this weekend too. Personally, I would prefer a dry, uninterrupted weekend just to see where the teams are at.

As for the track, until the Barhain and Abu Dhabi turned up it was one of the most boring tracks on the calender. IMO. But to be fair, since they've changed it, it's slightly better.

Yep, very tight turnaround.

IMO, it may be boring for today's F1 as it's made for a different era, for the late 80s. It's not ideal for today's very aero sensitive cars. But that's a problem with some other and even modern tracks too.

Last year a professional photographer (at the caption of his photo at Autosport Plus' Zoom feature) said something along the lines, it's not a fancy modern track, showing its age, but it has character and soul, what the modern tracks lack.

Just thought I'd bring in a contrast to the modern perspective on the track by bringing up a quote from Ken Tyrrell from when the track was new in 1986:

"This brand-new circuit got a wonderful reception from the public. The crowd are a long way from the action but they seemed to like it. At least they went in their numbers. It is a very slow circuit - the slowest of the non-street races by a long way - but it is an excellent modern facility and I have found it a most interesting track. Drivers complained that it was too slow but I think a circuit like this serves a purpose. The beauty of grand-prix (sic) racing is the variation in the type of circuits, and I think there's a place for a circuit like Hungary's in the calendar." - from Grand Prix by Alan Henry & Alan Brinton, 1987.

Interesting how the more things change, the more things stay the same.

other than hamilton's pace on fresh rubber after he left he pits, i didn't see much indication of that. unless your referring to practice pace.. but I doubt that you are.

You didnt? Not even when Button was catching the leaders and almost getting the win from 7th? If he had started a few places higher up and not having to navigate through so much traffic, the McLaren looked like a race winner to me.

I think the track is good, it should make for a much better race than Hockenheim.

It will be hot, we're looking at probably anything between 28-32 degrees, give or take. The only issue is that we could get a couple of storms because of the heat, which going by the detailed forecasts is certainly possible, but whether it rains or not, it will be hot.